Grand Ayatollah Hajj
Sheikh Hussein Ali Montazeri, the great Islamic thinker, is among the most
prominent scientific and revolutionary figures of the contemporary age, because
of his leading role in the Islamic Revolution of Iran, and his outstanding scientific
and political stances in the last fifty years.

This free-minded clergyman whose Islamic
views a great number of Shi’a Muslims from Iran and all over the world follow
in performing their deeds has been subject to the public judgment more than other
mujtahids.

As an individual who played the second major
role in the most important event of contemporary Iran, that is the
establishment of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Montazeri is now subject to
unkindness of the Iranian officials. He was under house arrest for more than
five years by his unthankful students, for his advice and benevolence. In the
last sixteen years, he has been under so many pressures and limitations.

So many people in the world and especially
in Islamic countries are interested in the life of this elderly revolutionist,
so a brief account of his life, personality, and views is presented here.

The invaluable scholar, Ayatollah Montazeri,
has always attempted to state the exact phrases when he quotes the opinions of
jurisprudents and the authors. The reason is that indirect quotation may cause
fallacy in meaning. Moreover, the mere acquaintance of the scholars with the
scientific texts and great scholars’ statements results in their mastery of the
scientific points, as well as increasing their motivation and talent for
research.

He also writes his teaching material before
every session and adds any additional points he thinks of during his
presentation. In recent years, these before-teaching drafts are copied and
handed out to the students. Both the teachers and students in the Seminary now
welcome this method, which facilitates referring to scientific sources and
authors’ opinions. Another characteristic of his teaching method is his
restating difficult phrases in a simple way. As stated by himself, he has
learned this from his professor, the late Ayatollah Borujerdi.

Furthermore, he attends to the dates and
processes of the issues in jurisprudential circles of the past and among old
Shi’a scholars. He also pays attention to the past record of the issues among
Sunni jurisprudents. If the dates of all the issues and the special conditions
of Imams’ traditions are studied, as well as the verdicts of old jurisprudents,
many of the ambiguities and uncertainties of secondary jurisprudential issues
would undoubtedly be solved. Ayatollah Montazeri attends to this fact in his
teaching, to a great extent.